Adrian Martinez

Guy Chamberlin said:
Honestly, our freshman QB came in cold and played an Adrian Martinez kinda game almost note for note against Iowa.

I no longer think Nebraska needs Adrian to have a chance next year. I think our chances will be the same with Logan Smothers. 

Maybe a tick better. 
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From what I've seen from the spring game, to the limited time he's come in here and there this season, and then in the Iowa game he just doesn't seem to even be on Martinez's level in terms of standing in the pocket and reading a defense on designed passing plays.

I think the only way Smothers plays next year is if the staff can't drum up a better passer out of the portal.

Teams will widen out for Smothers to stop the option. Our O-line can't block well for inside running and our running backs aren't particularly great across the board anyway.

I'm just not seeing much success with Smothers next year either. Not the kind of success that takes a 3 win team to 7 wins anyway.

 
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Undone said:
From what I've seen from the spring game, to the limited time he's come in here and there this season, and then in the Iowa game he just doesn't seem to even be on Martinez's level in terms of standing in the pocket and reading a defense on designed passing plays.

I think the only way Smothers plays next year is if the staff can't drum up a better passer out of the portal.

Teams will widen out for Smothers to stop the option. Our O-line can't block well for inside running and our running backs aren't particularly great across the board anyway.

I'm just not seeing much success with Smothers next year either. Not the kind of success that takes a 3 win team to 7 wins anyway.
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Qb don't matter if we can not protect him.

 
Also, if I had to put odds on an outcome where Frost actually says to Martinez "You can't come back," I'd say that's like a 10% chance.

He wouldn't be given the boot; if anything it'll be a completely open competition and a situation where maybe he's the backup.

If he doesn't come back for his senior year here I'm pretty confident it'll be because his shoulder limitations won't allow him to play QB anymore.

 
Undone said:
From what I've seen from the spring game, to the limited time he's come in here and there this season, and then in the Iowa game he just doesn't seem to even be on Martinez's level in terms of standing in the pocket and reading a defense on designed passing plays.

I think the only way Smothers plays next year is if the staff can't drum up a better passer out of the portal.

Teams will widen out for Smothers to stop the option. Our O-line can't block well for inside running and our running backs aren't particularly great across the board anyway.

I'm just not seeing much success with Smothers next year either. Not the kind of success that takes a 3 win team to 7 wins anyway.
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And that’s why we need improvement on the o line and RBs. 
 

You’re also comparing a guy that’s a freshman in his first start with a 4 year starter. 
 

Get a good QB coach and watch him develop. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
And that’s why we need improvement on the o line and RBs. 
 

You’re also comparing a guy that’s a freshman in his first start with a 4 year starter. 
 

Get a good QB coach and watch him develop. 
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I had quoted Guy Chamberlin who was pretty much insinuating that our chances with Smothers are equal to our chances with Adrian. I disagree with that.

If we get a good QB coach, then think of what we can do with a kid out of the portal who is already a known quantity as a pocket passer who can maybe run a little option here and there.

I believe our chances are best with that kind of guy. And I'm going to say that the odds of Smothers turning into a great passer in one offseason with the right QB coach is pretty slim. I'm not trying to be intentionally disparaging, it's just what I see from his play and what I think his potential is.

Again though - we don't even know what Adrian's decision is. That's really the first step here.

 
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SouthLincoln Husker said:
Qb don't matter if we can not protect him.
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Well, if we pass block next year as bad as we did last season, then it almost does makes sense to just hope that the starter is either Adrian or Smothers and be more option heavy. Almost...

For me though I just hate the thought of that, because receivers like Betts, Manning, & Martin could absolutely crush it next year.

 
2AM ended at 61% passing and kept many drives going with key passes. He was also the most hurried and sacked QB in the conference. 
 

He needed to make decisions faster. 
 

But, he wasn’t a horrible passer. 
 

14 TDs to 10 INTs. That needs to improve on the INT  side. 
 

Still, a much better O line, which was the worst in the league, would have helped in all of those areas. 
 

Need to improve the O line, or it doesn’t matter. 

 
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Undone said:
From what I've seen from the spring game, to the limited time he's come in here and there this season, and then in the Iowa game he just doesn't seem to even be on Martinez's level in terms of standing in the pocket and reading a defense on designed passing plays.
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Disagree. For 3.5 quarters, Logan Smothers stayed in the pocket just fine, read the receivers just fine, completed 70% of his passes for a healthy 12+ yards per attempt, ran the ball effectively and sometimes excitingly, and staked Nebraska to a 21-9 lead against a ranked opponent. Then he rattled off a fumble, a safety and an interception while executing a suddenly conservative scheme of flare screens and check downs in an awkward attempt to hold the dwindling lead and then come from behind in the last minute, a panicky look that Nebraska has mastered all season.

In other words, if you simply watched the Nebraska/Iowa game without knowing who was quarterback, you could easily assume Nebraska was benefitting from Adrian Martinez's dual threat experience for 3.5 quarters, only to be let down by classic Adrian Martinez mistakes under pressure to lose the game — including some playcalling that didn't help his chances.

I never said the team wouldn't struggle with Logan Smothers. Just saying that freshman Smothers appears perfectly capable of having Adrian Martinez kinda games. 

Which means we don't need Adrian Martinez's fifth season as much as some might think.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Disagree. For 3.5 quarters, Logan Smothers stayed in the pocket just fine, read the receivers just fine, completed 70% of his passes for a healthy 12+ yards per attempt, ran the ball effectively and sometimes excitingly, and staked Nebraska to a 21-9 lead against a ranked opponent. Then he rattled off a fumble, a safety and an interception while executing a suddenly conservative scheme of flare screens and check downs in an awkward attempt to hold the dwindling lead and then come from behind in the last minute, a panicky look that Nebraska has mastered all season.
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Disagree. Smother's balls have no zip or drive to them. He will lead the nation in INT if we even attempt to use him like we did Adrian. Adrian is substantially better skill wise, is a larger body and maintains a slight bit of elusiveness over Logan. Logan may be overall faster and did appear to make decisions a bit faster, but I would bet dollars to donuts he was protected with limited plays and reads in order to achieve that. In the end, Logan is not a downfield passing threat, he can't make the cross field short throws well, he isn't large enough to take hits, he isn't elusive enough to avoid hits.  He's an above average back up that can win you some games with niche calling, but I promise, we go nowhere with him at the helm for a Big10 conference season. 

I am guessing Adrian is not coming back. I wouldn't blame him. He deserves so much better than we gave him, both football program and fanbase. If he comes back I hope it is an agreed upon back up role in order to rehab and prep for 2023 combine, or a GA. I would love him back under center as well, but I worry that we won't know how well he can play until after spring ball and that really puts us in a lurch if he is a shade of his current self. So, what is best for the team is to bring in a transfer, pray Haarberg can develop into a star, and go from there. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Disagree. For 3.5 quarters, Logan Smothers stayed in the pocket just fine, read the receivers just fine, completed 70% of his passes for a healthy 12+ yards per attempt, ran the ball effectively and sometimes excitingly, and staked Nebraska to a 21-9 lead against a ranked opponent. Then he rattled off a fumble, a safety and an interception while executing a suddenly conservative scheme of flare screens and check downs in an awkward attempt to hold the dwindling lead and then come from behind in the last minute, a panicky look that Nebraska has mastered all season.

In other words, if you simply watched the Nebraska/Iowa game without knowing who was quarterback, you could easily assume Nebraska was benefitting from Adrian Martinez's dual threat experience for 3.5 quarters, only to be let down by classic Adrian Martinez mistakes under pressure to lose the game — including some playcalling that didn't help his chances.

I never said the team wouldn't struggle with Logan Smothers. Just saying that freshman Smothers appears perfectly capable of having Adrian Martinez kinda games. 

Which means we don't need Adrian Martinez's fifth season as much as some might think.
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I will not badmouth Smothers. I thought he played well enough. I will point out that I truly believe 2AM is flat out better. Many of Smothers completions were check down to the flat bc he did NOT want to stand in the pocket to let things develop. He also inexplicably fumble a zone read on final play of the 3rd qtr.  It wasn’t a turnover but he had huge running lane well into plus territory. That dropped ball, set up the blocked punt, and the disastrous ending. 

 
A lot of those check-downs came late, presumably part of both Frost's play-calling and Iowa making adjustments.

Fact is, Smothers had very good yard per attempt average prior to the last panicky drives -- and that was only possible with some good downfield targeting. 

My question really wasn't about badmouthing. I'm asking If Adrian Martinez had played against Iowa, what would have been different? That was vintage 2021 Nebraska football. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
A lot of those check-downs came late, presumably part of both Frost's play-calling and Iowa making adjustments.

Fact is, Smothers had very good yard per attempt average prior to the last panicky drives -- and that was only possible with some good downfield targeting. 

My question really wasn't about badmouthing. I'm asking If Adrian Martinez had played against Iowa, what would have been different? That was vintage 2021 Nebraska football. 
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Oh no, I wasn’t suggesting anyone was badmouthing, I just wanted to be clear that I thought he played well under the circumstances. I am not sure on what would have been different. It seems to play out the same way regardless of who is qb, which is why I have been adamant that 2AM isn’t the problem.

 
Husker03 said:
Can't change arm talent.
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That not completely true and only part of the package.  I’d rather have somebody with lesser arm talent but is able to manage an offense well(which AM could not).   Great kid.  Good talent.   Maybe he's been mismanaged by our staff but I don’t think that is the whole issue.  

 
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